"But I DON'T WANT to be this busy... I've been enjoying how quiet it's been. It's been giving me time to work on my English and my paintings." - My Pops

Phone Rings...caller ID: Pops

[CONTEXT: My Dad owns a small Chinese Restaurant 1 hour outside the city. It's in a tiny town with 200 people. He's semi-retired, so he doesn't mind that business has been SLOW. Somedays he doesn't even get an order through]

Me: "Hey Dad, what's up?"

Pops: "Hey... guess what happened?... A lady came in a week ago and decided to write something on Facebook"

[I'm thinking... "oh no... what did they write? Something Negative? Do I need to do some damage control...?"]

Pops: "I've been working non-stop all day today. My phone keeps ringing. I can't keep up. People are driving from the town 20 minutes away just to pick up food".

Me: "Wow... that's amazing! Way to go Pops!"

Pops: "But I DON'T WANT to be this busy... I've been enjoying how quiet it's been. It's been giving me time to work on my English and my paintings."

Me: "Well...if that's the case, then you shouldn't be so good at what you do"...😛

[Ever since that post, there have been days where he's made more in 1 day than he has in 1 month]

----------------

I went on Facebook to search my dad's restaurant to see what came up.

Lo and behold, I see a testimonial about my Dad's restaurant in a FB group for a town that's 20 minutes away:

"We just moved to rural Holden and decided to give Chef Lee Garden a try tonight, as I have been craving Chinese food all day. We were driving home after a long day in Edmonton and stopped into town in Holden. Let me tell you…….. This is the BEST Chinese food I have ever had!!! And that is coming from a city girl; a very picky city girl when it comes to Chinese, Japanese and Thai food, at that. Chef Lee’s food tastes so fresh and homemade, has SO much delicious flavour. The dinner for 4…. Wow!!! More like a dinner for 8! The portions he gives are incredible. We’re a family of 4 and will each get a second large serving for left overs tomorrow. Also, the wor wonton soup chef’s kiss SO delicious! I hope this man stays in business because let me tell you…. He won himself a very loyal and long-term customer now! I promise…. The drive there is absolutely worth it!!!"

Then I scroll down a bit and see that this post has 89 likes, 50 comments, and 5 shares. It's the most engaged post in this entire FB Group.

As I'm scrolling the comments, others are also leaving positive reviews and tagging their friends to go check out the restaurant.

Wow.... no wonder his phone's been blowing up!

There's 2 lessons I took from this:

1. Delivery a Great Experience / Transformation / Product.

My dad's been a Chef for over 40 years so he's a master at his craft. But here's the thing... he's STILL continually learning and innovating with different recipes and ways of cooking. He constantly watches YouTube videos of other chefs to see how they do things. Adopting a 'beginners mind'.

This also helps create repeat buyers which helps increase the Lifetime Value.

2. The Power of "Word of Mouth" advertising.

Word of Mouth / Referrals isn't linear. It's exponential.

1 person tells 3 people. Those 3 people each tell 3 people [ = 9 people]. Those 9 people each tell 3 people [ = 27 people]. Those 27 people each tell 3 people [ = 81 people]....etc....

And especially in the age of the internet, that feedback (Positive OR Negative) can spread like wildfire.

So what can YOU do with this...?

Never think your program/product is "complete". Seek for ways to make it better, faster, easier to consume, less time to get the transformation, more certainty it'll deliver on the promise.

Here's how to do that...

Always ASK for feedback so you know what to improve.

Whether it's a training, a course, a live event...etc... get feedback so you can make 1% improvements over the course of YEARS, which ADD UP!!

ASK for the testimonial.

Make it easy for them to leave a testimonial. Give them instructions on what to include. Remove the friction so they're more likely to do it.

ASK for the referral.

Ask them if they know anyone else who would benefit from your program/product. Ask them if they would send an introduction.

Follow up with them to ensure the introduction is made. Thank them for referring. Make them feel special (custom thoughtful gift, hand written thank you card...etc).

Instead of letting the testimonial happen by chance (like it did for my Pops...) be PROACTIVE and ASK for them.

Most people are willing to give, you just need to ASK.